精灵仙境 - 挪威Atmospheric / Ambient Black Metal乐队Eldamar专访

33 minutes ago

13 min read

对于氛围黑金属乐迷们以及托尔金主题金属乐的乐迷们来说，来自挪威的Eldamar是在探索这一类音乐的过程中经常见到的名字。正如含义为“精灵家园”的这个名字，Eldamar十分擅于用优美宏大的合成器，让听者在聆听时仿佛在精灵居住的仙境中漫步。就在11月22日，Eldamar即将来到中国开启他们的首次中国巡演，这也是乐队第一次在欧洲以外演出，此次的巡演终点站，Eldamar将与多支国内优秀的金属乐队在上海久徒音乐汇的舞台上同台演出。在巡演即将开启之际，我们邀请到Eldamar乐队的创始成员Mathias Hemmingby来进行了一次专访。Mathias向我们分享了Eldamar乐队的起源，个人创作上影响最深的乐队以及对托尔金世界的思考。

（V: 代表笔者 M: 代表Mathias Hemmingby）

For fans of atmospheric black metal and Tolkien-themed metal, Norwegian band Eldamar is a name that frequently comes up when exploring this genre. True to its name—which means “Elvenhome”—Eldamar excels at using beautiful, sweeping synths to transport listeners to a fairy-tale realm inhabited by elves. On November 22, Eldamar will arrive in China to kick off their first-ever Chinese tour—the band’s first performances outside of Europe. At the tour’s final stop, Eldamar will share the stage with several outstanding domestic metal bands at Shanghai’s Jiutu Music Hub. With the tour about to begin, we invited Eldamar founding member Mathias Hemmingby for an exclusive interview. Mathias shared with us the origins of Eldamar, the bands that have most deeply influenced his personal songwriting, and his reflections on Tolkien’s world.

(V: refers to the author; M: refers to Mathias Hemmingby)

采访对象：Mathias Hemmingby（Eldamar乐队创始人）

采访时间：2026.11.14

V: 你好Mathias！首先非常感谢你接受这次采访。就在11月中旬你将带着ELDAMAR进行首次中国巡演。这是你第一次来到亚洲地区进行演出吗？对这次的巡演你有哪些期待？

Hello Mathias! First of all, thank you very much for accepting this interview. In mid-November, you will be bringing Eldamar to China for the first time for a tour. Is this your first time coming to Asia to perform? What are your expectations for this tour?

M: 我们从未去过中国，也从未在中国演出过，所以我们对这次小型巡演相当期待。事实上，我们从未在欧洲以外的地方演出过。我预计会我们会遇到相当大的文化差异。

We have never been to or played in China, so we are quite extited for the mini tour. In fact we have never played outside Europe. I expect there to be quite a large culture change.

V: Eldamar这个名字来自托尔金的作品，对于不熟悉精灵宝钻系列的粉丝来说可能对这个名字的来源并不熟悉。可以请你介绍一下Eldamar这个名字所指的是什么吗？为什么你会选择Eldamar这个名字作为乐队名？

The name Eldamar comes from Tolkien's works. For fans who are not familiar with “The Silmarillion”, the origin of this name may not be well known. Could you introduce what the name Eldamar refers to? Why did you choose the name Eldamar as your band name?

M: Eldamar这个名字意为“精灵家园”（Elvenhome），在托尔金的传说中，它是位于阿门洲——不死之地——的一个地方。当时，我觉得在托尔金世界的所有种族中，精灵特别有趣。它也与北欧神话有关联，我们有一个世界叫Alfheimr，意思相同。

The name Eldamar means Elvenhome and it is a place in Aman, The Undying Lands in the Tolkien lore. At the time, I found the Elves to be particular interesting among all the races in Tolkiens world. It also has a connection to Norse where we have a world called Alfheimr wich means the same.

V: 你是从什么时候开始接触到托尔金的作品的？是什么让你决定创作以托尔金笔下的世界为灵感的音乐？

When did you first come across Tolkien's works? And what made you decide to create music inspired by the world of Tolkien?

M: 嗯，我那时喜欢黑金属。而且我想做一支单人乐队。于是我想要黑金属那种粗粝的质感。但我也希望它听起来优美。所以我从霍华德·肖恩的《指环王》配乐中汲取了一些灵感。

Well, I was fan of Black Metal music at the time. And I wanted to make a one-mans band. So I wanted the harsh grittiness of Black Metal. But I also wanted it to sound beautiful. So I drew som inspiration from the music in LOTR of Howard Shore.

V: 在你成长并开始进行独立创作的过程中，对你影响最大的乐队都有哪些？在演奏方面，有哪些乐手的演奏风格对你产生过比较多的启发？

During your upbringing and as you began creating independently, which bands have had the greatest influence on you? In terms of playing, which musicians' playing styles have inspired you the most?

M: 作为吉他手，我最初是Metallica的粉丝。后来我开始听Children of Bodom的音乐，吉他演奏方面我成了Alexi Laiho的忠实粉丝。这些人对我来说是影响最大的。

As a guitarist I was first fan of Metallica. Then I got into Children of Bodoms music, beacame quite fan of the guitar playing of Alexi Laiho. Those have been the big ones for me.

V: ELDAMAR的许多作品都是长度超过十分钟的歌曲，作为一支单人乐队，你的创作过程是怎样的？你会如何记录想要放在歌曲里的各种想法？

Many Eldamar songs are over ten minutes long. As a one-man band, what is your song writing process like? How do you keep track of the various ideas you want to put into a song?

M: 我在演奏时可能会灵光一现，想到一个觉得很酷的riff或旋律。我一般先用手机录下来。如果我手头有几段旋律，它们构成了歌曲的主干，我通常会翻看手机里之前录下的旧旋律，看看有没有合适的片段能拼凑成一首完整的歌。通常就是这样。有时我可能会一口气写出一整首歌。如果是这样，那大概就是命中注定的吧。不过这种情况很少。

I might get an idea of a riff or melody when I play that I think sounds cool. I always record it down to my phone. If I have a few melodies that sort if makes up the backbone of the song I often have to go to my phone to find older melodies I have recorded before and se if it fits to get a full song. Thats usually how it goes. Sometimes I might just come up with a whole song in one go. If so, then it was sort of ment to happen. But that is only a few times.

V: 你在之前的一次采访中曾说过“ELDAMAR 永远不会进行现场演出.”而现在看来你已经改变想法了。为什么你决定让Eldamar走出纯粹的录音室计划开始进行现场演出？你还记得Eldamar的首次演出是在何时何地进行的吗？

In a previous interview, you once said, 'Eldamar was never intended to play live.' But now it seems you've changed your mind. Why did you decide to take Eldamar out of being a purely studio project and start performing live? Do you remember when and where Eldamar's first live performance took place?

M: 是的，我仍然坚持我之前的说法。但恰巧当时有一支完整的乐队随时待命。这支乐队原本是为Askheimr项目组建的。后来，一家德国音乐节邀请我以Eldamar乐队去演出。我当时说，不妨试一试。但随后新冠疫情爆发，演出被推迟了。不过最终我们还是登台了。至今我们已经参加了两次该音乐节。看来观众们确实非常想现场聆听Eldamar的演出。因此，我们在德国举办了几场演出，还在捷克共和国和奥地利各举办了一场。

Yes, and I still stand on what I said. But it so happend that I had a complete band ready at my call. It was intended for the Askheimr project. And I was asked by a German festival to come and play as Eldamar. And I said, we could always try. But then covid hit and it was prosponed. But we got to play in the end. We have been to the festival now 2 times. And it seems like people really want to hear Eldamar live. So we have had some concerts in Germany. One in Czech Republic and Austria.

V: 听着ELDAMAR的音乐时能感受到如同置身精灵领地的感觉。我认为这来自于你对人声与传统的黑金属音乐非常不同的运用。而你在《Astral Journeys Pt. I》与《Pt. II》中加入的各种如钟声，脚步声等的声音采样让ELDAMAR有了一种Ear Movie的沉浸感。是什么为专辑里的这些声音提供了灵感？

Listening to ELDAMAR's music feels like being in an Elven realm. I think this comes from your use of vocals, which is very different from traditional black metal. And the various sound samples you added to Astral Journeys Pt. I and Pt. II, such as bells and footsteps, give ELDAMAR a kind of "Ear Movie" immersive quality. What inspired these sounds on the albums?

M: 让听众感受到我脑海中构想的那种环境氛围非常重要。我相信这样会让音乐更具立体感。

It is very importaint to give the listener the feeling of the environment I i see in my head. That way it will be more three dimentional I belive.

V: Eldamar的专辑封面有着一种独特的辨识度，有的比较具象，比如"The Force Of The Ancient Land"专辑的风景画封面。而像最近的两张专辑"Astral Journeys Pt. I"和"Pt. II"则拥有相对抽象一点的封面。为何会有这种视觉风格的改变？

Eldamar's album covers have a unique recognizability. Some are relatively figurative, such as the landscape painting cover of The Force of the Ancient Land. While the two most recent albums, “Astral Journeys Pt. I” and “Pt. II”, have relatively more abstract covers. Why is there this change in visual style?

M: 是的，音乐风格上也有相当大的差异。我希望"Astral Journeys"系列能更具心理深度、空灵、宇宙感、超现实且超脱物质。早期的专辑则更侧重于森林、自然以及奇幻的逃离。让封面艺术作品也能体现这些特质，从而从一开始就营造出相应的氛围，这一点同样至关重要。

Yes, it is quite a differece in the music style also. I wanted the Astral Journeys to be more psycological, etheral, cosmic, surreal and non physical. The older albums had more emphasis on the forest, nature and fantacy escape. It was allso importaint that the artwork reflects the same to set the stage from the beginning.

V: 之前在一个采访中你提到你最爱的托尔金作品是"贝伦与露西安"。我也非常喜欢贝伦与露西安的故事。有没有哪一首Eldamar的歌曲是灵感来源于这个故事的？

In a previous interview, you mentioned that your favorite Tolkien work is ‘Beren and Lúthien’. I also really love the story of Beren and Lúthien. Is there any Eldamar song that was inspired by this story?

M: 事实上，确实有。歌曲"Travel In Woods"正是直接受此故事启发而创作的。当贝伦在旅途中发现露西恩在林中歌唱起舞时，歌中描绘的情景与故事中的情节颇为相似。

In fact, it was. The song Travel In Woods is directly inspired of that. When Beren is traveling and finds Luthien singing and dancing in the woods. It is sort of the same that happens in the song.

V: ELDAMAR和Northern Silence Productions厂牌有着长期合作。在乐队早期，你与NSP的合作是如何开始的？你对与NSP的合作是否满意？

Eldamar has had a long-standing collaboration with the label Northern Silence Productions. How did your collaboration with NSP begin in the band's early days? Are you satisfied with your collaboration with NSP?

M: 当时我已经通过数字渠道发行了音乐作品，而且当时使用的封面设计完全不同。后来有人建议我试着给NSP发邮件，请他们来发行这张专辑。当时他们旗下已经签约了许多氛围黑金属乐队。他们很看重Eldamar，于是我们共同努力，为这张专辑找到了最完美的封面设计。

I had already released the music digitaly. I had a completely different artwork then. Then someone sugested I had to try to email NSP to have them release it. There was already many atmospheric black metal bands signed to them. And they wanted Eldamar and we worked to find the perfect artwork for the release.

V: 从你的INS可以看到你有很多不同的吉他，请你介绍一下，哪些是演出时你的主力吉他，哪些是在创作时你会经常用的吉他？

From your Instagram, I can see that you have quite a few different guitars. Could you tell us which ones are your main guitars for live shows, and which ones you use most often when writing and recording?

M: 我想我大概有12只吉他左右。但我实际经常使用的只有其中几只，具体会根据需求和想要的演奏风格来切换。有些吉他既适合演奏乐句，也适合演奏独奏。有些则只适合演奏乐句。还有些是我在演奏清音和具有鲜明个性的重金属乐句时更青睐的。我无论在家还是在舞台上都经常使用的主力吉他是一把Fender Jazzmaster。它已经成为了我近期演奏风格的首选吉他。它最擅长清音，而且由于配备了主动式单线圈拾音器，在演奏乐句时音色也相当厚重。虽然不像双线圈拾音器那样刺耳，但它很有个性。我还使用Fender Strat、Gibson Explorer和Charvel，以及Fender Jaguar。出于怀旧，我可能会拿出一把ESP或Jackson的V系列吉他。事实上，这些才是我最满意的吉他。

I think I have 12 guitars or so. But i activly just use a few of them, and it switches around based on need and the playingstyle I go for. Some is better for both riffs and solos. Some are best at riffs only. Others I prefer when I play Clean and heavy riffs with more caracter. My main guitar I use activly at home as well on the stage is a Fender Jazzmaster. That has become the go too guitar for my recent playing style. Best at cleans and quite heavy sounding when it comes to riffs because of the active singlecoils. Not as in your face as you would have with humbucker. But it has caracter. I allso use a Fender Strat, Gibson Explorer Charvel, Fender Jaguar. And I might for old times sake pick up my V guitars of ESP and Jackson. Those are in fact my best ones.

V: 你还有一支叫做Askheimr的乐队。许多ELDAMAR的乐迷也非常喜欢Askheimr。你是在何时开始为Askheimr这个企划创作音乐的？同样都是你的个人计划，为何Askheimr与ELDAMAR会有如此巨大的风格差异？

You have another metal band called Askheimr, and many ELDAMAR fans love Askheimr as well. When did you start making music for the Askheimr project? Since both are your solo projects, why is there such a huge stylistic difference between Askheimr and ELDAMAR?

M: 我创立Askheimr是因为那正是我当时热衷的音乐类型。它拥有一种我希望在其他艺术家身上听到的风格，但我始终没能找到，所以只能自己动手。你知道那种Children of Bodom和Dimmu Borgir的融合风格。而我当时就想组建一支这样的乐队。我们曾以Askheimr的名义进行过一次现场演出。但随着音乐品味的演变，我越来越不热衷于以Askheimr的名义进行现场表演。我发现现场一边弹吉他一边唱歌压力很大，也很困难。而且我越来越喜欢厄运金属，这种音乐让我在舞台上无需承受压力。此外，我收到邀请进行ELDAMAR现场演出的机会也比Askheimr多得多。

I made Askheimr because that was the type of music I was into at the time. It had a type of style that I wanted to hear in other artists but I never found them, so I had to do it myself. You know the Children of Bodom and Dimmu Borgir blend. And I wanted to put together a band. We played live with Askheimr one time. But as the musical taste evolved Askheimr became something I was less eager to do as a live act. I found it quite stressfull and difficult to play guitar and sing live. And I got more into Doom music that does everything else than stress on stage. I was allso asked to play Eldamar live a lot more then Askheimr.

V: 许多乐队都从托尔金的故事中挖掘创作灵感，你认为如今以托尔金为主题金属乐在内容和形式上是否已经达到饱和，还是说依然有很多内容尚待人们挖掘和开发？

Many bands draw creative inspiration from Tolkien's stories. Do you think Tolkien-themed metal music has now reached saturation in terms of content and form, or are there still many things waiting to be explored and developed?

M: 我不认为托尔金的故事以及围绕这些故事的灵感会在短期内消亡。这是一个如此永恒的世界，让人总想重返其中。我认为它将经受住许多世界性危机的考验，人们也会从中获得新的灵感。

I dont think the Tolkien stories nor the inspirations around the stories will die out any time soon. It is such a timless world that you allways want to go back into. I think its going to survive many world crisis and people will find new inspiration from it.

V: 从2015年成立到现在，ELDAMAR已经成为氛围黑金属的代表之一。你觉得在乐队成立的这十余年间，在创作上与十年前最大的改变是什么？一直以来保持不变的又是什么？

From its founding in 2015 to now, Eldamar has become one of the representatives of atmospheric black metal. Over the more than ten years since the band was formed, what do you think has been the biggest change in your creative approach compared with ten years ago? And what has remained unchanged all along?

M: 我想创作方法和以前大同小异。不同之处在于，随着年龄增长，我发现灵感越来越难获得。所以相比我的首张专辑，现在完成一首作品需要花费大量时间。也可能是因为科技不断发展，我更容易被其他事情分散注意力。不过，灵感可以以多种形式出现。

I guess it is more or less the same approach as before. The difference is that I find it more difficult to be inspired the older I get. So things takes a huge amount of time now to finish compaired to my first album. It might allso be that I get easily more destracted with other things as technologi evolves. But inspiration comes in many forms.

V: 感谢你接受我们的采访，期待在中国见到ELDAMAR！最后一个问题：你觉得如果你是一位精灵，你希望你属于精灵里的哪一个种族？你会想在阿门洲生活还是在中州地区生活？

Thank you for taking the time to do this interview—we can’t wait to see ELDAMAR in China! One final question: If you were an Elf, which of the Elven peoples would you want to belong to? And would you rather live in Aman or in Middle-earth?

M: 感谢您提出这些精彩的问题，我期待能前往演出！我想我会加入诺多族，并且住在阿门洲。

Thank you for great questions, I look forward to play! I think I would belong to the Noldor. And live in Aman.